Guest Column: What exactly is America's fiscal cliff?

According to Thomas Kenny, About.com, among the laws to change at midnight Dec. 31 are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2 percent tax increase for workers), the end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax, the end of t...

According to Thomas Kenny, About.com, among the laws to change at midnight Dec. 31 are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2 percent tax increase for workers), the end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax, the end of the tax cuts from 2001-03, and the beginning of taxes related to President Obama’s health care law.

At the same time, the spending cuts agreed upon as part of the debt ceiling deal of 2011 will begin to go into effect.

According to Barron’s, more than 1,000 government programs, including defense and Medicare, are in line for “deep automatic cuts.”

In 2010, The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform was established by Obama from both parties. “The moment of truth” was in the report’s name, dated December 2010. The president gave them a two-part mission, according to the report, to bring the budget into primary balance (balance excluding interest costs) in 2015, and to meaningfully improve the long-term fiscal outlook.

The challenge is clear and inescapable: America cannot be great if we go broke! Businesses will not be able to grow and create jobs, and workers will not be able to compete successfully for the jobs of the future without a plan to get the crushing debt off of American’s backs.

Since the economic downturn, families across America have had to tighten their belts by cutting expenses and reducing their debt. As Americans, should we not expect the leaders of this great country to do the same? Neither party can fix the financial mess on their own, and both parties have a responsibility to do their part.

According to the report, our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path. Since the last time our budget was balanced in 2001, the federal debt has increased, dramatically rising from 33 percent of Gross Domestic Product to 62 percent of GDP in 2010. The escalation was driven in large part by two wars and too many fiscally irresponsible policies, along with a deep recession. We have arrived at the moment of truth, and neither political party is without blame. The problem is real, and the solution will be painful.

The commission proposed a six-part plan to put America back on the path to fiscal health, promote economic growth and protect the most vulnerable among us. Taken as a whole, the plan would:

Achieve nearly $4 trillion in deficit reduction through 2020, more than any effort in the nation’s history.